A Walk Amongst the Stars
by nymphonic
Summary: This story takes place right after the events of The Last Jedi. Rey/Kylo Ren! Enjoy!
1. Chapter 1

How it hurt to know that it had been Snoke that had joined them. It felt natural and it felt right that they were able to speak to each other in their minds at miles and lightyears away. Ben had cut his father down and he'd aimed at his mother in sky but he missed. But even though she survived, he was still cold. His blood had run cold and his mind had turned dark the day he awoke to his uncle standing over him with fear in his eyes and a drawn lightsaber in his hand. His intention was to murder him even though his choice had not yet been made. The darkness was alluring and seductive and it called to Ben but he could have denied its enchantments. But he'd been given up on so early and so easily that he turned quickly albeit hesitantly. The son of darkness was at least someone's son, someone's family, someone that was important to someone else. And in the darkest hour, the force in Rey arose. The universe always needed balance. The son of darkness needed the daughter of light. She was alone in the world. She was orphaned time and time again as she kept finding mentors and they kept leaving her. But she didn't hate the person who kept taking them from her. She was bound to him, possibly before Snoke joined their minds.

She'd asked him to join her and he asked her to join him but how could either of them say yes? She wanted him to turn himself over to the side where he'd butchered thousands and he wanted her to turn against literally everyone and only exist for him or perhaps just for the both of them. She'd never had family before and so it was a seductive proposal. He was literally offering her the world. No, he was offering the universe. They were the two most powerful people in the entirety of the galaxy. They'd have been drawn together sooner or later but how it hurt that it had been Snoke.

She rejected him and he tried to shoot her down but he knew that he'd miss. They were connected. He could feel her every intention. He could sense where she wasn't and so that's where he aimed. And so he watched her flee, taking the rest of the Resistance with her. And when everyone was inside the ship she hid herself away to mourn the loss of yet another family.

"Ben," she whispered as she knelt down by herself in the darkness.

She didn't know if he'd answer. He had no reason to since she'd just betrayed him, but she hoped that he would. He was the only one that spoke to her about things other than the war, the Order, the Resistance. He talked to her about fears, about abandonment, about pain and about wanting love. His black and her white were starting to grey. He had a good heart but he just did terrible things.

"Rey," came the deep, familiar voice that dissipated quickly into the air. "It's not too late. Join me. Please."

"I'm afraid it _is_ too late," Rey replied.

She searched for his eyes in the dark but she couldn't see them. He wasn't there. It was only his voice.

"We were meant to be with each other. We both saw it. I know that you did. Why fight destiny? We're weak to it but together we could be strong. We could make our own destiny," Ben said.

The darkness would be so easy to walk into to. It'd be like walking in space amongst the stars. People are not meant to only be good. It takes effort and strength. But Rey didn't owe the universe anything. It'd never given her anything after all. She could build for herself the world she had always wanted with someone who truly wanted and needed her.

"Don't ask me again, Ben," Rey told him. "I can't bear it."

Rey could feel his gloved hand brush her cheek. When it came away, he looked down and saw a few of her tears running down the black leather.

"Do you deny that were meant to be together?" Ben asked.

"No. But I -"

"But what? It seems so simple. We saw it. Don't deny me because I know that's not what's in your heart. I can see that you want this too. We're connected for a reason," Ben pleaded.

"Snoke connected us."

"But he's dead and here we still are. We're connected," Ben snapped. "So do you still deny it?"

"I don't," Rey conceded. "Your power is unimaginable. You are more powerful than your uncle or your grandfather ever were."

"Why do you bring them up?!" Ben shouted.

"Because there's no way the universe could allow one person to have all of that power. It needs balance and so I was created for you. I was made for you. I am the antidote to your darkness and so no I don't deny that we are meant to walk amongst the stars together but I cannot join you. I cannot because we would destroy everything in our path. The force between us would create some other entity because the universe craves balance. We'd destroy the universe and then destroy ourselves in the process," Rey cried.

"Then it'd be a beautiful death!" Ben snarled. "Maybe the universe deserves to die! What has it ever given you?!"

Rey flinched at his sudden volume, "It's given me you."

Ben quieted down, "I don't want to be alone anymore."

"Be strong, my dark prince."

"I'm stronger with you."

"Then I must stay away," Rey replied.

Rey felt his presence leave her and she felt the loneliness creep back in.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2! I decided to extend the story. It was originally a one shot but now it's a full fledged story. Yay! Enjoy.

"Supreme Leader, what do we do now? The rebels have escaped," General Hux hissed through his teeth.

"Can't you see that I'm in my chamber and the door is closed?" Kylo Ren barked. He reached out his hand toward the general and grasped at the empty air. General Hux began to asphyxiate and he fell to the ground with a shriek.

"I'm sorry, Supreme Leader," Hux said as Kylo Ren released him. "It's just that the men are getting restless. We don't know whether to count this as a victory or not."

"Does it matter? Not everything is so black and white," Kylo Ren replied roughly. "We fought and some died on both sides. It's a war, not a game. If it makes you feel better to think that we've won then tell them we won. Give a speech praising their bravery. I don't care what you do."

"Do you have any orders for us?" Hux asked.

"Destroy the planet and let's get out of here," Kylo Ren replied.

Hux scuttled away, shutting the door loudly behind him. Ben ran his fingers over his mask as he sat in the darkness. He didn't care about victories. He only wanted to see the universe burn and he didn't care from which side he did it. The dark side was easier of course. He could say that Kylo Ren did all of those horrific things and not Ben Solo, the son of two of the most famous rebel fighters that ever existed. He could never take up their cause with his father's name. He didn't want to breed hope. He only wanted everyone to feel the pain that he felt. He had been given up on and served over to the dark side by these "heroes" and then blamed for giving in so easily. But it wasn't he who was weak. It was everyone else. They feared him even though he was only a child.

Ben brought his fist down hard on a table, splitting it nearly in half. He used the force to send the pieces smashing into the wall. He had been given up on again but at least this time Rey had tried. When Luke's lightsaber broke and he was sent flying backward unconscious, she escaped but left him alive. She believed that he could be good. He listened to him and she believed him. No one had ever done that before. They had only ever sensed his power and fled.

Ben looked through his windows and watched Crait disintegrate as they flew away from it. He had wanted it to die. He had wanted everyone on it to burn and suffer. It didn't make sense to him that people fought the First Order. He wanted the universe to have order and he wanted everyone to follow him. It didn't make sense why people were so keen to fight and die for something as imaginary as hope.

"What should I do, Rey?" Ben asked the empty room but he heard no response.


	3. Chapter 3

"Why is the force connecting us still?" Rey asked. "Snoke is dead. The connection should have died along with him."

"Don't be so naive," Ben replied. "It was never him that connected us. He wasn't powerful enough to do something like this. But you know who is? We are. But only together."

"Then why-?" Rey began.

"You are so kind, Rey. You're so good. You believed him?" Ben asked with a hint of annoyance in his voice. "You refuse to see the bad in people, don't you? Is this why you still speak to me? Do you think I can still turn? Because I can't. I'm already gone."

"You're not!" Rey yelled.

She had been trying to mend Luke's broken lightsaber when Ben Solo appeared before her. He was wearing his black cape with the mask she'd come to despise.

"Take that bloody thing off," Rey demanded.

"You're doing that wrong," Ben insisted, ignoring her wish.

"What would you know about it?" Rey snapped.

"It's part of Jedi training to build your own weapon. I might be the last person who knows anything about it," Ben replied.

"You're no Jedi."

"Maybe not. But I did train to be one," Ben said.

"Why are you the last one?" Rey asked. "What happened to the Knights of Ren?"

Ben turned away. But even beneath the mask he knew that he couldn't hide his reaction from her.

"You always ask about the past. Move on, Rey." Ben spat.

"Let me see your face, Ben. I want to see your eyes when you tell me," she said.

She put her hand out to touch his masked cheek but he moved away. She was surprised by this. He'd always been so honest with her before. Why was this now a point of contention? The Knights of Ren were inconsequential to her. They were either in hiding or they were dead but Rey had never given it much thought. She just figured he'd driven them away as he'd done with mostly everyone else. But she never knew there was a story behind it. One that he was embarrassed to tell her no less.

"I'll tell you one day. But not today," Ben said in his distorted voice.

"Did you kill them?" Rey asked.

"Would you be surprised if I did?"

"I'd be surprised if you didn't."

Ben took offense to this statement. He didn't know why her opinion hurt him but her words stung.

"Why do you keep meeting with me if you think so low of me then? We have these little conversations in private, in the dark, when no one is watching us. Why? If you hate me so much then leave me alone!" Ben snarled.

"I don't have a choice. I can't stop it. I can't control it," Rey replied honestly.

"You can. You only appear when I'm thinking about you and when I assume you're thinking about me too. When we're both on each other's minds, we appear to each other. Haven't you figured that one out yet?" he asked.

"I-I don't think about you," Rey lied to which Ben sucked his teeth.

"The first time we met in our minds, what were you doing?" he asked. "I was getting the scar on my face patched up so it's natural I'd think about you since you're the one that delivered it. But what were you doing?"

"I'd only just woken up," Rey said.

"You dream of me then?" Ben said as more of a statement than a question.

"You haunt me."

Ben stepped in and closed the gap between them. Rey's breathe caught in her chest. She tried to hide it but it was useless anyway. Ben could feel what she felt. He took her hand and placed it on his mask. She stopped breathing completely.

"You're only scared of me when I'm wearing this," he said. "You have that same look you did the first time you saw me in the forest."

"Tell me about the Knights of Ren," Rey demanded. "Tell me what it is I should fear about you."

"I told you not now!" Ben growled as he shoved Rey's hand away and then disappeared into thin air.

Rey chided herself for pushing him but she needed to know. It seemed like the information she needed to understand him and to understand their connection. It was something that pained him even more deeply than the betrayal of his family. He spoke of those freely but he immediately became quiet and cruel at just the mention of the Knights. She'd have to take a different approach if she was ever going to find out the truth.

Ben closed his eyes to sleep but sleep evaded him these days. His dreams were always the same. He dreamt of the night his uncle had tried to murder him. But that was never the part that stuck out to him. That's not why he kept replaying it over and over in his mind. It was because of Rey.

He was young then. Not yet a man but not a child anymore either. He had been sent off to his Uncle Luke's Jedi training school in order to hone his powers. His parents had sensed an immense power in him like they'd never felt before, even in his grandfather, Anakin Skywalker. The power scared them and so they shipped him off to someone who'd once before come back from the dark side, Luke. They knew they couldn't let the dark side claim him but they didn't try hard enough to keep him on the side of the light. A child can sense when their parents are afraid of them and when they're holding back. He felt isolated and unloved all of his life. The breaking point came when he awoke to Luke standing over him ready to deliver him to death. Ben woke up and crumbled the building on top of his uncle. He then recruited students that he knew would turn easily to the dark side and then killed the rest. They were a liability and so they had to die.

Kylo Ren and his Knights of Ren burnt the temple to the ground. There were a few that weren't his classmates but had been working for Snoke already. The five of them left but didn't get very far. Kylo plunged his lightsaber through the chest of a rebel fighter. The Knights of Ren then stood in the rain and watched the temple burn from some distance away. Kylo Ren still had his lightsaber drawn. It was then that Kylo saw something. He saw a girl appear from nowhere. She looked around, confused. When Ben took a step towards her she disappeared as suddenly as she had appeared. She had dark hair tied into three buns. That's all he remembered of her. The moment was brief but it had a profound effect. He'd never felt a power like hers before. The force seemed balanced even though it was only for a split second. He reveled in the feeling but he despaired of his failure. He thought that he had killed all of the light user Jedis. This girl was pure and the light radiated from her. She didn't have a drop of darkness in her yet. Something in him responded to it and he felt himself sink even farther into the dark side. When light rises, the darkness rises to meet it.

For that short moment, Kylo Ren's faith in the darkness was shaken. There was a light user that was more powerful than he was somewhere out there. Her mind connected with his briefly and all he heard from her thoughts was a place. He had never been there but he'd seen it so clearly in her mind - Jakku. It was the only place that she knew. He could tell. Her memory of it was so vivid and so clear, untainted by the memories of another place. He had to go in search of her.


	4. Chapter 4

"It's been months, Ben." Rey sighed. "I can't do this anymore. Get out of my head! Please. I can't fight for the rebellion with someone I'm fighting constantly in my head."

"We can't disconnect, Rey. We're the balance that the force craves. If we part. If we truly part, then we'll destroy everything," Ben replied. "The fact that we still meet, means that you're still holding on to me. You still have hope. You still have the rest of the darkness that I need to go fully to the dark side and I still have your missing light. Without me, you're incomplete."

"Do you truly believe that? Are we meant to go on like this forever then?" Rey asked.

"No. We're meant to be two halves of a whole. We're meant to be together in person. Not in our minds. We're meant to balance the force together. But you won't let go of the light. You think that you're little rebellion is the answer. It isn't. The force is the only thing that matters. I'm a Skywalker, Rey. My grandfather was born from a mortal woman and the force itself. The force didn't have a say in the matter and so the force has been unbalanced. The universe has been crumbling trying to fix the waves that the aberration caused. I'm that wave. I'm not supposed to be here with this much power." Ben closed his eyes.

"What are you saying then?" Rey asked. "That I need to kill you in order to balance the force?"

"Perhaps," Ben conceded. "But I created you. I think it was a mistake but I think you created me too."

"What are you on about?" Rey was perplexed.

Ben sighed. He had said too much. He didn't want to tell her how he knew he before they'd even officially met. He'd known her years since he was a little boy. He saw a glimpse of her right after he destroyed his uncle's temple. But he didn't want her to know how much she really meant to him. She was the only light user Jedi that he'd spared that night.

"I told you I'd tell you about the Knights of Ren. I guess now is as good of a time as any."

Rey scooted in closer and lay her lightsaber down. She had been so patient for months waiting for him to tell her about the Knights of Ren. She stared deeply into his eyes as he prepared to speak. She wanted to know that his words would be true. His dark eyes seemed sincere.

"Tell me," Rey urged.

"I did kill them," Ben started. "I had just burned the temple and escaped with them. I thought that I had killed my uncle and I was going to join Snoke with the knights. But I saw you. You looked as you did the first time that we met. Same clothes and same hair. You appeared and you looked right at me. I walked towards you but you disappeared. The knights were standing behind me but they didn't see you. I thought that I was going mad."

"The day I first touched Luke Skywalker's lightsaber, I saw visions of the temple burning and of you with the Knights of Ren. Is that what you're talking about?" Rey asked.

"Yes. But you have to understand that that was over ten years ago. I was a teenager and you looked as you do now. I felt your power too and somehow mine grew just at being in contact with you. I wanted more power because I thought that one day you'd come for me. At this point I was the strongest Jedi in the universe but when you appeared I wasn't so sure anymore. I knew that the force craved balance and that it always self regulated so I murdered the Knights of Ren so that their power would be redistributed to me and it worked. But what I didn't realize is that everytime we come into contact with each other, our power evens out. That's why you, a rookie Jedi was so strong even with no training. When you saw me in your vision our powers leveled out. We snapped Luke's lightsaber in half because we are equals. We always will be," Ben said. "I trained under Snoke because he was the most powerful force user I knew. He siphoned force energy off of others and he was fueled by his pain like my grandfather, Anakin Skywalker, was. Snoke, on his own, could barely walk. His body was just a shell that was deteriorating faster than it could regenerate. He was constantly in pain and that fueled his power. That throne he sat on kept him alive by using force energy. I always knew I'd have to kill him one day. I always knew that I'd need his power as well to defeat you. But that's not why I eventually killed him. I killed him because he threatened you. This hasn't gone how I always thought it would."

"So what? You saw me through the force over a decade ago and then you killed the Knights of Ren. I don't understand why you're telling me this," Rey said.

"You don't?" Ben asked. "After the Knights were gone, I flew to Jakku to look for you and kill you. I had seen that junkyard pile of a planet in your mind so I went there. Imagine my surprise when I saw you but you were only a little girl. Your parents had long abandoned you and that junk trader was in charge of you. I was disgusted. You took one look at me and you asked me if we knew each other. You felt the connection even as a little girl. I didn't answer you. I got back on my ship and I flew away as fast as I could. I still remember you screaming after me as I left. I thought of taking you then as a student but I was afraid you'd turn on me. But I thought maybe everything would be fine because you were stuck on a nothing planet with no one who cared about you. I thought maybe you wouldn't discover your powers. So when that droid had made it to Jakku with the map to Luke, I panicked. I knew immediately that it was you that'd helped them."

Rey contemplated his words. They seemed honest and they made sense.

"You were force sensitive but you probably never would have known it unless I'd come to see you when you were a child on Jakku. I awoke the force in you. I only have myself to blame," Ben chided himself. "And now we're adversaries anyway. I could have killed you that day and none of this would be happening. But I couldn't. You make me feel … different … when your energy is around me. It's the force binding us."

"Why don't I remember meeting you?" Rey asked.

"I wiped it from your mind before I left," Ben answered.

"But I remember your ship flying away and I remember being crushed at it leaving but I could never remember why. I do now. I thought that you were my father coming to take me back. But then you left immediately. You looked so different back then and so young but I felt something with you. I thought it was familial connection. I waited on Jakku for years thinking you'd come back!" Rey yelled, slamming her fist down. "But it was you this whole time. I waited for you my entire life!"

"And I waited for you!" Ben growled. "I knew one day you'd grow up and find me. I thought about you every single day and here we are and you can't stand me. You still want to kill me. But I don't want to kill you.I can't."

Ben's eyes were lit up with passion. He moved in closer and knelt before her on the ground. Standing on his knees, he was the same height as Rey sitting down. He put his hands over hers in her lap.

"Stop it, Ben." Rey demanded.

"No."

"Please. I can't do this with you." She said as tears started forming in her eyes. "I want you but I can't-"

Ben pulled her forward using the force. Her lips were only inches from his.

"Come with me. I'll call off the army. I'll kill them all myself if I have to. Just please. I can't stand this anymore," he whispered into her lips.

Rey swayed into him. But Finn's voice came from down the corridor so she turned in its direction. When she turned back Ben was gone.

"We tracked Kylo Ren's ship!" Finn yelled excitedly as he burst into the room. "We're launching an attack now."


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

When Ben had touched her hands, she saw where he was. He was in a large, fancy ship surrounded by smaller ships of the New Order army. Their main ship had been wrecked in the last altercation and so they were more vulnerable than usual. But the only rebels that remained were enough to fit aboard the Millennium Falcon. Rey had no idea how that was enough to take on the New order fleet.

"How do you propose we launch an attack with no army and no weapons?" Rey asked Finn.

She was trying to wipe away her tears before he could see that she'd been crying. He'd caught her in such a vulnerable moment but he was so excited about the attack that he failed to notice.

"Our signal was finally answered, Rey. There's a rebel base set up on Cato Neimoidia with a few survivors. They've been stockpiling weapons for years and they're ready to strike. I think this is our chance. Both sides have been dormant for months. We could surprise them and end this," Finn said.

"This isn't going to go how you want it to, Finn." Rey warned. "Weapons or not. They are strong with the dark side of the force. Ben is stronger than ever. I can feel it."

"We have you. You're strong with the light." Finn reassured her.

"I can't face him," Rey said. "You don't understand. I can't fight him."

"You can, Rey. You've beaten him twice already. You just need to beat him once more but for good this time." Finn said, misunderstanding Rey's meaning.

Everyone aboard the Millennium Falcon prepared for battle. Chewie jumped the Falcon into lightspeed towards Cato Neimoidia to meet the commanders of the rebel base.

"I saw that," Ben's voice sounded in Rey's ear. She looked around but it was only his voice.

"We can't do this. Ben knows." Rey demanded.

"This is our only shot, Rey." Finn urged.

"Poe, please. Listen to me. Ben knows we're moving on him," Rey plead.

"Ben? Since when do we call him Ben? And how do you know?" Poe asked.

Rey hadn't told anyone about her connection with Ben Solo. She didn't want to risk sounding like a traitor. Luke had already doubted Rey's loyalty to the light and she didn't need Leia doubting her as well. Leia had control of the force as well but she had cut herself off. But if she opened herself up again, she'd see immediately the conflict in her.

"I just know, okay?" Rey said. "We can't do this. We will lose what little of the rebellion we have left."

"We aren't the rebellion if we aren't rebelling. Everyday we lay dormant, is another day the New Order is taking innocent lives. We have to do this." Poe said.

"I can't be a part of this then," Rey said. "I won't watch you all die."

"I value your opinion but you aren't in charge here," Leia told her. "If you want to sit to the side while we defeat my son then that is your choice. We're moving forward with or without you. You aren't the only force user aboard this ship."

Rey nodded. She watched them all as they departed the Falcon. She knew they were walking to their deaths but they probably knew it too. Rey got back aboard the Falcon and took off in search of Ben. She was going to let go and join him. She thought it was the only way he'd allow the rebellion fighters to survive. She tried to speak to him in her mind but there was radio silence. He wouldn't answer her and she couldn't see him. He was doing this on purpose. He knew of the attack and he was planning his counter. He couldn't risk her knowing his plan.

After several hours she knew she had to give up. The universe was huge and he could be anywhere. It was more impossible than finding a needle in a haystack. She decided to fly back to Cato Neimoidia. She'd have to help.

When she arrived the New Order fleet was already descending on the planet. Kylo Ren was ready to hit with every ship he had to finish off the rest of the rebellion. The rebellion mission was a failure. They'd only succeeded in alerting Kylo Ren where their last stronghold was. It'd be destroyed in minutes.

Rey was prepared to land her ship on the planet and fight to the death alongside her friends but Poe's voice came through the Falcon's radio system.

"Rey, get away from Cato Neimoidia now!" He shouted.

"What are you talking about? The New Order is about to descend on you. Don't you see them? You need as many soldiers you can get," she replied.

"The planet is empty."

"What do you mean?"

"Is Kylo Ren listening?" Poe asked.

"What do you mean?" she asked.

"You know what I mean. Is he listening to us speak now?" Poe demanded

"No. He's cut our connection. How did you know?"

"I told you that you weren't the only force user." Leia said through the radio.

"You used me," Rey said. "You knew that Ben would find out about the plan through me."

"We knew you'd lead him there along with the fleet," he said. "But we also knew you wouldn't fight him. We needed you to leave because I knew he wouldn't fire on you either."

"You tricked me so that you could murder your own son?" Rey demanded.

"He stopped being my son a long time ago." Leia said with a sigh.

"But why lead them there?" Rey asked. "What's your plan?"

"The commanders on Cato Neimoidia obtained plans from the original Death Star. And when we infiltrated the Starkiller base, we were able to draw up an approximation of its plans. The commanders and engineers have been working for years to create their own base," Poe said.

"You're going to destroy the planet with them on it?" Rey asked in disbelief.

"They created a planet killing machine on another planet in the Catonian system. Once the Order has landed we're going to fire and destroy the whole thing. So you have to get out of there or you'll be killed," Poe urged.

"I won't let you kill Ben. I need him. You don't understand. The force needs to be balanced and it can't be done without him. I can't let you do this," Rey said.

"We're firing now. Get out of there!" Poe yelled.

"He's a threat to the force, Rey. It'll be balance once he's gone. Now get out of there or we will fire on you," Leia said.

"NO!" she heard Finn's voice yell in the background.

Rey shut off the radio controls and jumped to lightspeed towards Ben's ship. She knew which one was his. She could sense his presence aboard. She crashed into it at full speed and pushed it out of the planet's orbit. Both ships exploded and the two were sent crashing into a small planet in the neighboring system. Cato Neimoidia was struck and the entire planet was set on fire.

Rey and Ben were knocked unconscious but were protected by the force. They lay among the wreckage of both of their ships. Poe Dameron sent a few pods after them. He ordered the pods to fire on Kylo Ren as soon as they arrived. Kylo Ren was lying unconscious in the sand. His helmet had cracked in half, exposing part of his face.

Green beams of light emitted from the blasters of Poe's pods. Rey regained consciousness and halted the beams by raising both of her hands. She was weak from the crash and the effort was enough to kill her. She could see Poe shouting at her to stop. Rey, with a wave of her hand, sent the beams off in the other direction. She collapsed immediately afterwards.

"She's turned to the dark side, Poe. Fire on her too," Leia commanded.

"Poe, you can't!" Finn yelled. "It's Rey. Please."

Poe hesitated. Leia landed her pod and stepped onto the sand. She raised a blaster at Rey and fired. But Ben had woken up and he stopped the beam from his mother's blaster. The beam stayed suspended in midair.

"Stop this, Ben!" Leia yelled.

"How dare you turn on her the way you turned on me," Ben said through gritted teeth.

"It's over, son. I don't want to kill either of you but I will to finally end this war. I've been fighting it my entire life," Leia said.

"Then today you can stop," Ben said. He sent the suspended beam back towards his mother, striking her in the chest. Leia collapsed, dead.


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

Ben rushed over to Rey and put her head in his lap. Poe and the other pods began firing without inhibition at the two of them but Ben deflected all of the beams with a wave of his hand. He was stronger than ever. He closed a fist and then reopened it creating an invisible sonic boom. The pods went flying.

"Do you feel that, Ben?" Rey asked him. "Leia's force energy is redistributing. We're getting stronger. Too strong."

"She was a Skywalker. The waves of the aberration are almost all dead," he said. "Except for me. Why didn't you let me die?"

"I need you. If you die half of me dies too," Rey replied.

"It's too much power, Rey. I can't take it," Ben said. Veins in his face started to pop out. The blood was coursing through him. The force energy was ripping him apart.

"Please, just hold on. I'll fix you. I don't know how but just hold on!" Rey cried. "I don't know what's happening!"

"Anakin Skywalker was conceived by midichlorians. When he started to turn to the dark side, my mother and uncle were born. The force redistributed to them and so he was preserved. But now all three of them are dead and all of that power has been transferred to me. Darth Vader was in pain for most of his life. That suit helped him with it. The same thing is happening to me, Rey," Ben choked out.

"Why aren't we levelling out? Give me your pain, Ben. I'll share it with you. We can both live," Rey said. "We've been connected all of our lives. Why is it failing us now?"

"It doesn't want you. Only me. I killed a light force user to save you, another light force user. Darkness isn't supposed to defend the light. It's confused and it wants me gone," Ben replied.

Rey held Ben in her arms. He was shaking violently. The power was ripping through him. She'd read that Darth Vader used to wear a suit to manage his pain. She couldn't imagine how he managed to live with the pain that Ben was going through. He must have been very powerful. But pain is what drove him deeper and deeper into the dark side. The force was now suffering from too much light. It needed its dark prince back.

Poe, Finn and the others came rushing over the horizon along with the rest of the fleet that had flown in. They had their blasters drawn but they put them down when they saw the scene before them.

"I've been in love with you since I was a boy, Rey. You showed up and I've thought of nothing else since that day," Ben said. "And even now, you're the only one who has refused to give up on me."

"Stop talking. Save your strength. You're strong enough to withstand this. I'm here," Rey said, pushing his hair out of his eyes.

She unhooked his broken helmet and threw it to the side. He looked like a boy in her arms, almost as young as the day she first saw him on Jakku when she was only a child. She ran her finger down the scar on his face that she'd made in their first fight.

Poe ordered the rebellion to fire on Rey and Ben. They fired with every remaining weapon they had. It was enough to take out part of the planet. Rey created a force field around Ben and herself with her mind. The effort and concentration was exhausting but she wasn't weak enough to deflect the beams away. She could only hold them in place but she didn't know how long she could hold them for.

"Save yourself, Rey. I'll use the last of my force energy to deflect the beams. After that you can go on and live. Your friends will forgive you. You're a good person," Ben said.

"If you die the force will rip me in half. I can't live without you. I don't know how. You're my friend too. You're my teacher and my soulmate. And without you we can't balance the force. I'm part of you. As long as I live the Skywalker blood lives on." Rey replied. "If you go. I go too."

Ben sat up and raised a hand. Some of the beams were deflected but Poe ordered the rebellion to keep firing. Ben maintained his forcefield though, sharing the strain with Rey.

"Don't be afraid. You won't be alone," Ben said as he prepared to fade away into the force.

"Neither will you," Rey said. "If the force is confused by the darkness saving the light then maybe the light falling in love with darkness will balance it. I'm letting go, Ben. I'll go with you wherever you go."

She pressed her lips against his and ran her hands through his hair. He grabbed her by the waist and pulled her closer. They felt the force evening out as they completely acquiesced to each other. Rey and Ben felt their conflicts go away. They became equal parts light and equal parts dark. They were no longer trying to maintain darkness in one and lightness in the other. This is the way it was meant to happen. They were meant to be two halves of a force consumed the both of them and they disappeared into it together.

When they were gone the forcefield broke, sending the blaster beams into the sand. The implosion caused a massive landslide in the sand and the rebel fighters ran from it, trying to avoid being swallowed up by the earth. However, they took many losses. When the sand settled only Poe and Finn resurfaced. The former stormtrooper along with the former rebellion pilot looked out into the barren desert and wondered where to go from there as the sole two survivors of the decades long war. Both had blood on their hands and although they'd won the war, they somehow also felt that the'd lost. Things were no longer black and white. The two now lived in the grey area.


End file.
